A supporter of the far-right presidential election winner, Jair Bolsonaro, wears a mask of Donald Trump as he celebrates in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Photograph: Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty

When Ricardo Mengon heard Jair Bolsonaro had been elected president of Brazil he shouted. Then he cried.

Finally, the 54-year-old insurance salesman grabbed a giant Brazil flag emblazoned with his country’s motto – Ordem e Progresso (Order and Progress) – and went out on to the streets of central São Paulo to mark the victory of a far-right populist he hopes will remake the world’s fourth largest democracy.

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“A drop of hope has arrived! Now there will be order in this country!’ the father-of-three rejoiced as he walked down Avenida Paulista, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, towards an explosion of fireworks and rightwing joy.

“The streets will be safe. There will be no pornography on the TV,” Mengon grinned. Pointing to a group of armed police who had sealed off the avenue, he added: “This is what Bolsonaro will do.”

Mengon was far from alone in his delight.

At shortly after 7.15pm local time, when Bolsonaro’s once unimaginable triumph was confirmed, thousands of devotees began spilling out on to the streets outside São Paulo’s brutalist museum of art for the party of their political lives.

‘It’s a moment of renewal, of cleansing and starting from scratch,’ said Claudia Medeiros, pictured with husband Emerson and their son Lucca in São Paulo. Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

“It’s like New Year’s Eve,” said Emerson Medeiros, a 43-year-old bank executive who had brought his wife and baby to witness the celebrations, each of them sporting the bright yellow football shirts that have become the trademark of Bolsonaro voters.

“It’s a moment of renewal, of cleansing and starting from scratch,” agreed Medeiros’s wife, Claudia, as fireworks exploded around them. “He’s the saviour of the nation” she declared.

Tears filled Pietro Sambugaro’s eyes as he described the new conservative era he believed Latin America’s biggest economy was entering. “He doesn’t care about the presidency. He cares about the country,” the 28-year-old activist said. “That is what it means to be a Bolsonariano.”

So much is at stake and we must understand what is at stake

Fernando Haddad, Workers' Party

“We were a country without rules and with him we will have some rules … I feel so proud to have been part of this change.”

Further on, Bolsonaro’s campaign team had set up a carnival float beneath the art museum’s striking red structure, draped with a black banner that read: “Together we are stronger and with God we are unbeatable.”

“Our country is going down a path it has never been down,” shouted one of those up on stage. “Congratulations to us!”

Around the vehicle, hundreds of jubilant Bolsonaro voters, many of them toasting his victory with cans of ice-cold beer, began to chant: “Our flag will never be red!” a reference to anti-socialist sentiment, and “The captain won!”

At a nearby hotel, the climate was more sober, as Bolsonaro’s leftist rival, Fernando Haddad, conceded defeat and comforted supporters who were devastated at the election of a man known for his hostility to Brazil’s black, gay and indigenous communities as well as its environment.

“We will continue with our heads held height, with determination and with courage,” Haddad said, vowing to fight to defend “the thoughts and the freedoms” of the 45 million voters who had backed him, many of them aghast at Bolsonaro’s win.

“So much is at stake and we must understand what is at stake,” Haddad said.

Earlier, senior PT officials had insisted that with Haddad apparently gaining ground in the polls, they were headed for a historic reversal.

“The other side is on the defensive … we are on the offensive,” said Aloízio Mercadante, a veteran PT figure and Brazil’s former chief of staff.

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With Brazil struggling to emerge from an unprecedented recession and shake off a vast corruption scandal, Mercadante said he understood voters were angry with Brazil’s political class but warned that Bolsonaro represented “the worst possible adventure that Brazilian democracy could have to go through”.

On Sunday, in a decision likely to dramatically reshape the future of Brazil and the wider region, more than 57 million Brazilians decided that adventure was exactly what they wanted.

“We don’t know if it will work out,” Medeiros admitted as the party around him swelled. “But at least it is something different.”